A Gentleman's Samplings

I finally finished Christinia Cathcart by Samplar Workes on Sunday.  As you recall this was my Olympic 2012 start.  I had planned on getting this done last year but other things (and projects) got in the way. Stitched on 40-ct Lakeside Magnolia using HDF As a part of Nicola's Scarlet Letter Yea r, I decided to do Ruth Bacheler 1717 . The colors in this are really bright and stand out on the fabric. The only thing that gave me a little trouble at first is the counted satin stitch over 3.  It is not graphed very well on the chart but after looking at some other stitcher's WIPS I finally figured it out.  The only change that I have made is the chain underneath the first row of the satin stitched alphabet - changed this from a satin stitch to a normal cross stitch. Stitched on 40-ct Lakeside Pecan Butter using DMC I only have four more chemo treatments to go.  I was suppose to have a treatment this week but due to my platelet count being rea...

Sorry for the long delay between posts.  Seems that life (and health) always gets in the way of good intentions. I would like to thank everyone for their kind words of encouragement, thoughts and prayers over the past couple of months.  I am truly blessed to have so many supportive firends and family. The results of the the bronchoscopy that I had in August were inconclusive. So I meet with a cardio and thoracic surgeon who removed some lyumph nodes from my chest region. Those results came back as negative for cancer. So with those results back we could get started with the chemotherapy for stage 3 colon cancer.  I had my first chemotherapy treatment on 2 October and so far so good.  I have only experienced a little bit of nausea and some lightheadiness.  But that was only the first treatment - so 1 down and 11 to go.  I have a treatment every two weeks so I should be completed with treatments in about 6 months. ...

In honor of the 2012 Olympics, I decided a new start was in order.  So beginning with the Opening Ceremonies on Friday evening I started Christinia Cathcart c. 1831 by Samplar Workes (Page Dorsey).  This is a Scottish sampler that I have wanted to stitch for a long time. I started the sampler in the lower right hand corner because I wanted to start the forest and deer portion as soon as possible.  It is taking me a while to get that house completed even though it is only a roof and windows (the house itself is not filled in - only outlined). This is being worked on 40-ct Lakeside Magnolia using Hand Dyed Fibers silks converted from the recommended DMC colors. Really enjoying this but that strawberry border is going to take some time. I do not think I can finish it in the 17 days of the Olympics but at least I can say I have started it. Health Update I had a bronchoscopy with transbronchial biopsy performed on Thursday, 26 July to see if an enlarge...

Hello to all my fellow stitchers/bloggers and thank you for stopping by! I cannot believe that it has been over 2 months since my last post. Where does the time go? I have been away from the blogging world due to some unforeseen health issues. I have posted a brief summary and update at the end of this blog if you are interested. As stated in my last post, I lost a little bit of my mojo in the stitching realm. I could not focus on any of my projects. I decided to focus on the Mexican Schoolgirl Practice Sampler c1830 by Samplers Remembered . This one had some bright colors and different motifs which at least made me feel like I was making some progress. Worked on 40-ct Porcelain Lakeside Linen using DMC and the recommended Waterlilies. After this was completed I decided to start Sarah Elizabeth Brooke’s 1842 by The Scarlet House . This was a very fun stitch and kept me occupied during my recovery from surgery. I stitched the grassy area at the bottom of the sampler us...

It seems that I have not been able to focus on a single project lately. There always seems to be something a little bit more intereseting to stitch than the current project I am wanting to finish. Apologies in advance for the quality of the photos - for some reason the pictures look more gold/yellow than they are in real life... In the past month I have worked on Scarlet Letter's Coraggio .  I have had this chart in my stash for a few years and thought about it when it was mentioned by someone on a board a vist every once in a while. I am working this on 40-count Lakesde Linen Pecan Butter using a combination of Au Ver a Soie (AVAS) and Hand-Dyed Fibers (HDF) silks. Coraggio by The Scarlet Letter 40-count Lakeside Linen Pecan Butter with AVAS and HDF I started work on the mermaid but I need to re-think the recommended process of outlining and then filling in with the stitches.  Doing it this way tends to lose some of the definitio...

Once again I must thank all of you for your kind words and comments on my blog. I have meet some wonderful people in this venture who share the same passion for needlework. I was really surprised when I went to compose my blog post today and noticed that I have 199 followers. I will put something together for a little drawing so please stay posted. We finally have some decent weather in Texas (no +100F days since we had a cool front that moved into the area last night). Our high temperature for the day was only 81F and expected to get down into the low 60s overnight.  I could get use to this but we are expected to get back into the lower 90's by the end of the week.  But it is still try (no measureable rain received or expected) leaving us still in a severe drought situation. So we are still praying for rain. My goal was to finish Sampler's Rembered Mary Allen 1818 by Labor Day and I put the last stitches in on Saturday, September 3. ...

It is still really hot here in North Texas. Luckily August is nearly over with and hopefully September will bring us some cooler temperatures along with some much needed rain.  We have only had around a half inch of rain in the past three months. So hot and dry leaving everything really brown. And all this heat really drains your energy level. But -- I did manage to get the pre-stitching completed on the Patrick's Woods "A Spot in the Mountains" class piece.  The finishing class is in mid-September so I wanted to make sure that I got this completed early. A Spot in the Mountains by Patrick's Woods Worked on 30-ct linen with NPI silks The band on the left with the Florentine stitch will be finished into a tri-fold pocket.  The accessories (on the right hand side) will include a needle case, a canoe shaped pin cushion, and a scissor protector. These were a lot of fun to stitch and looking forward to finishing them. In my previous post I said th...

I finally finished my reimagined Mary Wigham samplar at the end of last month. Mary Wigham by Needleprint Stitched on 40-ct Light Examplar using HDF Silk As stated in a previous post, I saw a finished one done in three colors and really liked it more than the original colors. I did change the wording in the center motif to reflect the year that it was stitched and included initials from members of my family. I am currently splitting my time between the Patricks Woods class piece and Elizabeth Sheffield.  I will post updated snaps once I make a little bit more progress.

Greetings from North Texas where it is hot, hot, hot! It has been above 100F for over 21consecutive days with little rain. I created a blogpost at the beginning of June but never got around to taking the pictures for the blog post. So here goes... I finally finished the Frances Eden 1809 Sampler by Handwork the first week of June. It was a fun and colorful stitich but took me a little bit longer than normal to complete.  It is larger than I thought it would be. I still need to personalize it with my name and year but I am counting it as a finish. 1809 Frances Eden by Handwork Worked on 40-ct Examplar Lakeside Linen using HDF silks After completing Frances Eden, I decided to start Mary Wigham from Needleprint. I had started this using the recommended colors but was not really happy with how it was turning out. But then someone posted a picture of theirs using just three colors (gold, red and brown). I really liked the way they translated the design into...